The light blinded my eyes as I felt a teardrop, there was a call incoming from Texas, as I answered it and I heard the sweet voice I had been yearning to hear.

"Hi, my love", his sweet voice caressed as I giggled like a schoolgirl and heard the construction going on in the back as he tried to shh the people all I could hear was him ordering different people around, he was bossy.

"Hi", I breathed out as he sighed as he heard my voice, say one word and I could tell he wanted to come home.

"How are you doing", I asked as he laughed a bit and I couldn't wait for him to respond and for me to tell him that I missed him and that I wanted him to never leave my side again.

"I'm missing you that's for sure", he hummed as I wished to tell him I missed him, as yet again he had tried to muffle his words out and I could hear every word of him argue with the other workers. I heard a couple of words but the most important ones of all were "stop interrupting me I'm talking to my wife", wife, he called me wife and that made me smile as I winced at the pain.

"I'll be home all day, so why don't you just call me whenever you're free, even if it's for a couple of minutes, I can tell you're busy don't lie to me", he laughed as I could sense the worry from his laugh as he toned it down, and I could tell people were with him otherwise he would've said something that they would never expect their boss to say.

"Why'd you stay home are you okay, do I need to come home", he asked as I wanted to tell him everything, I was going to let a secret out that I kept since I was 7. I held it back in.

"No, everything's fine. I just had only one thing to do for today and there really wasn't a reason for me to go in, so I'm just working from home.", he sighed as I heard the seriousness in his voice.

"Okay, I miss you, I'll call you when I get to my hotel", he said and I could hear him screaming at people as he tried to mute the call.

"Bye", I spoke one word as I hung up the phone and lied down on the couch. My bruise stung to the touch, as I rubbed some healing cream on it.

It's gonna be okay, I repeated in my head as the words scared me. How many more times did I need to go through this, how many times until someone finds out, does anyone ever find out. I've been putting up with this since I was 7 and I never knew how to handle the scars, how to cover them, which had caused teachers to raise suspicion but when they realized who my dad was they couldn't say anything.

I had to become better, I needed to become better and I couldn't stop myself this time. I needed a fast recovery, fast enough to return to work.

I grabbed my laptop and finished up most of my work leaving just a bit for after lunch. I walked over to the kitchen as I pulled out the salad I had attempted to eat. I ate it as slowly as I could, waiting to swallow as I could tell my stomach wasn't agreeing with it. I grabbed my water and drank every so often. My stomach pained, but I couldn't understand and process how much I was endangering myself.

I finished my work as I ate my lunch and I finally got to rest just as the doorbell rang, I covered myself with a blanket and cleaned up a bit. I had cleaned up the vodka this morning and the air freshener had made the air seem more fresh, minus the vomit smell.

"Hi hun, you look like shit", Avery came in with bags in her arms as she pushed her way through the door and I looked at myself in the mirror at my droopy eyes.

"I'm sick", I said as she looked back at me and saw the couch and she registered that I hadn't felt good.

"Hon, I can tell, now how come Nolan didn't tell me?", she asked as I could tell she was my checkup and he didn't trust me to stay alone.

"He told me if I was sick, he was going to come home, he had work he can't come now, I told him I was fine, just tired", she nodded as I could tell she understood and zipped her mouth.

"Did Nolan tell you to check up on me?", I eyed her and she smiled as I could tell she did.

"Okay fine, yes I did, but there's also something I needed to talk to you about", I sat on the couch as she directed me too, and I could tell she was going to burst. She was shaking with excitement or nervousness.

"So, next week Cole and I are hosting a little dinner party for his family and my family, now tell me that's a good idea", she definitely needed some convincing as she wasn't too sure about the idea.

"Well that sounds like a good idea, if you really like him you should introduce him to the people you love, and from what I've heard and seen he's a nice guy, I will keep a leash on Nolan and I'm sure your parents will love him, I mean your parents loved me, so they will definitely love him.", she seemed relieved as I could tell there were millions of things swerving her head emotionally.

"My parents arranged the marriage they had to like you", she stayed a true opinion and I knew just the thing to calm her.

"If you like him your parents will like him, just trust me", I comforted her as I could only tell that she was going crazy inside her head. I coughed, then I straightened my hoarse voice out.

"You sure you okay", she asked as I nodded as I needed to get help. She hugged me goodbye and I sat back down on the couch as I trusted she would let herself out.

I finished the last bit of my work, and after that, I had to see my back to see if the bruise had gone or had begun to fade.

I didn't like this feeling of uncertainty that anything could go wrong in a split second.